The present invention relates to a composition for promoting hair growth, which includes a culture solution of mesenchymal stem cells derived from a fetus in amniotic fluid in which a reverse-transcription factor, Nanog, is overexpressed as an active ingredient, and a method for preparing the same.
Stem cells are cells having an ability to differentiate into various types of cells constituting a body due to environments inside and outside the body and stimuli, and a self-replication ability, and there are three types of well-known stem cells, for example, embryonic stem cells (ES cells) isolated from early embryos, embryonic germ cells (EG cells) isolated from primordial germ cells in the embryonic phase, and multipotent adult progenitor cells (MAPC cells) isolated from adult bone marrow.
Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells, which are one type of adult stem cells, have been used for a long time, and their various effects have been proven. In addition, recently, it has been reported that cells isolated from adipose tissue or other types of tissue have similar characteristics to bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells.
The inventors focused on amniotic fluid which is easily isolated from a pregnant woman or a fetus. They tested to obtain a variety of information about the health of the fetus from the amniotic fluid, and extracted the amniotic fluid without damaging the pregnant woman from the beginning of pregnancy up to immediately after the birth. The amniotic fluid cells used in the tests were disposed of after the test, and when a patient's consent was received, the cells could be used for study without disposal, and therefore, a large amount of the amniotic fluid cells can be easily acquired, compared to other adult stem cells that have been studied conventionally.
Meanwhile, since human hair has a unique growth cycle, that is, a hair cycle including: anagen phase→catagen phase→telogen phase→growth phase, a constant number of hairs is always maintained without molting. However, when baldness is progressing, a hair papilla present in a hair root becomes smaller, the thickness of hair is reduced, the hair cycle becomes shorter, and newly grown hair becomes thinner. Therefore, when baldness progresses, the hair turns into fluffy hair, has a shorter growth cycle, and then falls out after slightly growing. The major cause of baldness is heredity, and a male hormone, testosterone, is known to be involved in the expression of a baldness gene. Hair loss occurs in many cases because of aging, stress, etc., not because of genetically-occurring baldness. It has been known that aging-related hair loss is caused by poor blood circulation caused by pressed capillaries around pores, which is generated by a decrease in oxygen supply due to pore closure according to a decrease in scalp cells and an increase in accumulative amount of scalp fat. In addition, stress, an irregular lifestyle, and environmental pollution are also considered to cause baldness.
While the emotional pain felt by people with baldness or hair loss is very large, most hair restorers which have been developed and now commercially available have temporary or limited effects, and do not sufficiently satisfy users' needs. An applicable hair restorer, minoxidil, which has been proven to be effective to a certain extent due to vasodilation, and an oral hair restorer, Propecia, which contains finasteride as a main ingredient and exhibits its effect due to an inhibitory action on activation of a male hormone, have been widely used as agents having excellent effects in preventing hair loss. However, the above-mentioned hair restorers are effective in preventing hair loss to a certain extent, but exhibit insignificant effects on hair growth. That is, when the use of the hair restorers is stopped, hair loss reoccurs, and there are great concerns about side effects and increased costs due to long-term use. For this reason, most patients are giving up treatment.
Therefore, the inventors discovered reprogramming factors capable of extending the growth and lifespan of mesenchymal stem cells derived from a fetus in amniotic fluid and enhancing hair growth efficacy of a conditioned medium, and identified which components in the conditioned medium are effective for hair growth efficacy. In addition, the inventors confirmed effects of the conditioned medium on the promotion of the density of hair and hair growth through an in vivo experiment, and thus the present invention was completed.